The Stephens family was deep in a business crisis back then. No one wanted a strategic marriage with a family that could collapse any day.

But I chose him anyway.

Not for any grand reason. Just because at my birthday dinner, my father's illegitimate son called my mother a short-lived bitch cursed to die young.

Ezra didn't hesitate. He rushed over and beat the kid half to death.

And when my father forgot my birthday entirely, off celebrating an anniversary with the other woman,

I sat in front of my mother's grave all night. Ezra stood behind me the whole time, holding an umbrella.

The umbrella covered me and my mother's headstone. He was soaked through.

By dawn his hands were shaking.

Something shifted in my chest. Without thinking, I took the handkerchief and wiped my face.

A second later, searing pain tore through both eyes, and the burn in my sinuses was unbearable.

Tears and snot poured out before I could stop them.

Laughter exploded around me.

I forced my eyes open and saw the others walking over with Bella.

“Oh my God, how's that extra-strength onion juice treating you? Look at her face right now”

“Ezra said she made Bella cry and wouldn't apologize, so let her cry all she wants!”

“A few fake lines and she totally fell for it. What an idiot!”

Bella ran over with a few tissues.

“Lexi, are you okay? I tried to talk him out of it, but he cares about me too much……”

I managed to wipe my face clean, but then I caught the glint on her ring finger.

I grabbed her wrist, my voice raw：

“What is this?!”

That was the stone Ezra had won at auction for nine figures.

I designed the setting myself, found the craftsman, spent six months having a pair of wedding rings made.

Ezra had been keeping them both.

He'd smiled and said that was what it meant to be of one heart, that he'd put mine on my finger himself on our wedding day.

Now it was on another woman's hand.

Bella started crying again.

“I'm sorry, I just wanted to know what it felt like to wear a wedding ring that matched his.”

“I'll give it back right now, I swear……”

She made a show of tugging at the ring, but it wouldn't come off, and she stood there looking helpless.

Ezra caught her hand and held it. His expression darkened.

“That's enough, Alexis! I can't marry her, and that's already unfair to her. What's the big deal about a ring?”

“There are plenty of wedding rings in any jewelry store. I'll wire you the design fee and the labor cost, every cent!”

“This was always an arrangement for mutual benefit. As long as the title of Mrs. Stephens is still yours, what more do you want? Don't push your luck!”

I've never been someone who lets her emotions take over.

But something heavy pressed against my chest all the same.

That day at my mother's grave, I'd told him：

“Go home. You don't have to force a marriage. You stood in the rain for my mother all night, so I'll help the Stephens family.”

Ezra had smiled：

“You don't have to help me. But I'm going to marry you.”

“I know Miss Henson is proud and capable and never leans on anyone. But it's strange. The rain stopped, and I still want to hold the umbrella for you. When it's cloudy, to keep the rain off. When it's clear, to keep the sun off.”

When he said it, a drop of rainwater slid from the tip of his hair.

And landed like a single ripple on the still surface of my heart.

I held nothing back. I helped him, I agreed to marry him, and I believed we were trading one honest heart for another.

Now he called it mutual exploitation.

Someone nearby complained about the cold and suggested the hot springs. One by one, people climbed into their cars.

Bella settled into the passenger seat of Ezra's car, eyes still glistening.

“Lexi, I really never meant to hurt you.”

“But I'm too emotional right now. I don't think I can be in the same space as you. Would you mind getting back on your own?”

The rain had soaked through everything long ago, cold wind worming into every crack between bone and skin.

And Ezra really did reach out and block the car door.

He pressed the umbrella into my hand, looked at my swollen red eyes, and softened his tone just slightly.

“See? Bella cares about you so much. Can't you just meet her halfway? She's never going to threaten your position as Mrs. Stephens.”

“I just secured that land. There's no better match in all of Mountain City, and you know it, Lexi. You're not a stupid woman.”

“So stop making a scene. The wedding goes ahead tomorrow. I wouldn't trust anyone else with this anyway. I'd worry Bella would be mistreated.”

Ezra got in the car.

When the door shut, the warm air from inside brushed across my face like a slap.

It didn't hurt. But it was enough to wake me up.

What Ezra forgot was that besides not being stupid, I also couldn't stand a single grain of sand in my eye.

So I made a social media post.

“I am officially announcing my breakup with Ezra Stephens, and congratulating him on reuniting with his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be my former best friend, Bella Malone.”

Attached was a photo of the two of them kissing in that private room.

Ten seconds after I posted it, Ezra's call came in.

I didn't answer. I turned off my phone.

When I got back to the Henson residence, my father was sitting on the living room sofa.

His mistress, Scarlett Finch, sat beside him, feeding him fruit.

Their middle-school-aged illegitimate son was holding a set of markers, scrawling all over the carpet my mother had bought.

My fists clenched slowly. This place that had once held every good memory I shared with my mother.

Ruined, in the end.

When she saw me, Scarlett's eyes flickered with something uneasy before she came over with exaggerated warmth, reaching for my arm.

“Lexi's home! You must be hungry. What do you feel like? I'll have the housekeeper make it.”

This woman who had stolen my mother's husband. Who had driven her into depression until she threw herself off a building.

Standing here now, in my mother's home, playing lady of the house.

I shoved her away：

“What the hell are you? Take your bastard and get out.”

Scarlett stumbled back and turned to my father with wounded eyes.

He stormed over and backhanded me across the face.

“You ungrateful brat! You're the one who lost the South District development rights. Who was it that swore up and down she'd secure them? You botched it, and now you have the nerve to throw your weight around at your Aunt Scarlett and your little brother?!”

“And who gave you permission to break things off with Ezra?! Our only play now is marrying into their family so he'll throw us some scraps and we can recover our losses!”

“What successful man doesn't have a few women on the side? Why do you have to be so difficult? You're exactly like your dead mother, stubborn to the bitter end!”

“Delete that post right now, then go find Ezra. Get on your knees and beg him if you have to, but you bring that wedding back to me!”

Look at that. My own father.

So cold-blooded. So mercenary. In his eyes there was no wife, no daughter. Only profit.

I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek where he'd hit me, and let out a cold laugh.

“My mother only ever had one child. That foul-mouthed little bastard doesn't get to call himself my brother.”

“You're so desperate to grovel for the Stephens family? Send your precious mistress over. Or go yourself. You're already the expert at screwing around. Why let a little thing like gender stop you?”

My father's face went white with rage and his hand swung up again.

Someone caught his wrist.

Ezra's gaze swept to the right side of my face, and his expression darkened.

“Uncle, I asked you to talk to her. Who told you to hit her?”

“Relax. I know that post was just Lexi blowing off steam. I'll go through with the wedding tomorrow as planned. The Henson family will get every benefit we agreed on. There's no need to make things difficult for her.”

Only then did my father crack a smile. He took Scarlett and the boy and headed upstairs.

“Does it hurt?”

Ezra reached for my face, but I turned away before his fingers made contact.

Something flickered in his eyes. He sighed.

“Lexi, you're too stubborn. You really need to fix that.”

“Do you have any idea what that social media post did? Everyone at your company is calling Bella a scheming bitch. She nearly slit her wrists!”

“Tomorrow, at the wedding, in front of the press, you're going to publicly apologize to her. You're going to tell everyone you were jealous, that you photoshopped that picture yourself, and that you slandered her.”

I looked at him, almost amused.

“And why would I do that?”

Ezra's expression hardened. He leaned in close and dropped his voice.

“Lexi, did you really think I didn't know where you hid your mother's will?”

“Think about it. Your father never dared bring Scarlett and her son into the house all these years. So why did he suddenly have the nerve today?”

I stared at him in disbelief.

Before my mother died, she left me a will stating that when I turned twenty-five, her shares would automatically transfer to my name. Until then, a professional asset manager would oversee them, and my father had no authority to touch them.

The will was never notarized. She jumped before there was time.

For years my father tried every trick he could think of to find out where it was hidden, but I never gave it up.

To keep me compliant, he never let Scarlett set foot in the house.

Next week, I turn twenty-five.

But I'd hidden it so carefully. How could they possibly……

“Bella studied hypnosis. And a person who's been pulling all-nighters for days, completely exhausted from working on a proposal? That's when hypnosis works best. That's when the truth comes out.”

“Lexi, you're too capable. So capable it worries me. I had no choice but to plan ahead.”

Ezra pried my curled fingers open, one by one.

Not rough—but steady, absolute, the kind of grip that didn't ask permission.

“Relax. All you have to do is apologize to Bella tomorrow, then settle down as Mrs. Stephens and enjoy the good life. I'll manage those shares for you. After all, husband and wife are one, right?”

“Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to hand it over to your father. Destroying an un-notarized will is easy enough. The moment next week arrives, he becomes the first in line to take over. And you know he's been dreaming of transferring every last share to his own son.”

“Are you sure you want to lose the last thing your mother ever left you and end up with nothing?”

I looked steadily at this man I had once pulled out of the mud with my own hands.

And then I smiled.

“Fine. I agree.”

Ezra kissed my forehead, satisfied.

“I knew it. My Lexi never makes a losing deal.”

“Bella's waiting for me. I'll see you at the wedding tomorrow.”

I watched his figure disappear through the doorway, and the smile dropped from my face.

If he was so determined to force me to this wedding, then I'd give him exactly what he asked for.

I picked up my phone and dialed the number I knew by heart.

“Tomorrow, eleven a.m. Rose Manor, Mountain City. Be there to get married.”

“Thirty seconds late, and I'm picking someone else.”

Ezra thought he was still my best option.

He had no idea that from start to finish, he was the losing deal.

The next day at noon, I sat in the bridal dressing room at Rose Manor.

Outside, roses stretched in an endless sea of color, and the outdoor ceremony was set up on a grand, lavish scale.

The door opened and Bella walked in.

The fragile act was gone. She stared at the wedding dress on me with undisguised jealousy.

“You know what, Alexis? Even before I ever met you, I hated you. Why should I get looked down on by his family just because I come from nothing and can't help him? Why should I have to play gracious and step aside for you?”

“So I found my way to you. Became your best friend. And every single time you treated me like an idiot who actually cared, I wanted to laugh in your face.”

“What happened in that private room? Ezra and I have done it plenty of times since then. Your anniversary this year, when he showed up late? That's because he was with me. On the couch in your office. And last night we slept together in your wedding bed.”

“Don't think marrying him means you've won. Let me spell it out for you: the day the bid closed, Ezra and I got our marriage certificate.”

“I'm his real wife. You? You're just a shield he uses to keep those old fossils in his family off his back. So what if you're the heiress? I'm the one who won.”

I finally spared her a glance, my tone flat.

“Congratulations, then.”

Bella didn't get the reaction she wanted. For a second, she just stood there, blank.

Ten minutes before the ceremony, I stepped in front of the press cameras.

“About last night's social media post. I owe an apology to my former best friend, Bella Malone.”

“I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough.”

“She's not just Ezra Stephens's ex-girlfriend. She's a backstabbing, scheming bitch and a shameless homewrecker.”

The smug curve of Bella's lips froze. She burst into tears and threw herself into Ezra's arms.

Ezra's face was even worse.

“Alexis, you've really disappointed me. You forced my hand!”

“Say goodbye to your mother's keepsake!”

He pulled out a yellowed document.

Most of the guests had no idea what it was, but my father, standing closest to him, had a light blazing in his eyes.

He knew that handwriting by heart. It was my mother's will.

Ezra was about to set it on fire right there.

The next second, someone seized the wrist holding the lighter.

And wrenched it in the opposite direction.

The man was tall, immaculate in a tailored suit, with an authority that filled the room.

He had a cigarette clamped lazily between his lips. He leaned in, lit it off Ezra's lighter, and blew a slow ring of smoke right into Ezra's face.

His smile was razor-sharp and lethal.

“My mother-in-law left that for my wife. A little strange for an outsider like you to be holding it, don't you think?”